firestone
by The Siege
Summary: I'm a flame / you're a fire / I'm the dark in need of light / / I'm from X, you're from Y / perfect strangers in the night / / (kygo)
1. strike one

**/ strike one /**

* * *

I angle the wide brim of my straw hat downwards, shadowing my face as I stride past the townspeople and the occasional soldier. I tense at the sound of my clinking weapons, tightening my cloak around me.

This is why I hate going into town: I am always on guard, prepared to hide at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, certain supplies that cannot be foraged in the wild are necessary for my survival.

As I pass by a flower vendor, the man calls out jovially, "Hey, young man! How 'bout some flowers for your lady?"

Pitching my voice lower, I politely decline, "No, thank you. I do not have a lady." I bow slightly, making sure not to meet his eyes, and hurry away. I faintly hear the man cursing me out behind me.

Tired already of social interaction, I prepare to leave town when an odd group of hooded travelers catch my eye. There are seven of them in total: four tall and broad, two small and dainty, one small and very energetic...and— _is that a squirrel?_

They seem to be traveling in the same direction as me, so I decide to follow them for a while. Perhaps I can use them as cover on the road, in case there are bandits or soldiers.

Though they draw the attention of almost every passerby, they seem entirely absorbed in each other, arguing and laughing. They are rowdy but clearly very close; it induces a dull ache in my chest, an urge for companionship I have not felt since I left home.

Most of them browse the streets while one of the smaller figures—a beautiful boy, I realize, when he pushes back his hood—haggles for food and other necessities. I catch a brief glimpse of one of the taller travelers: a young man, maybe around my age, with dark hair and what appears to be a wrapped glaive. No doubt he is a warrior, and certainly one I would rather not meet in battle. He sticks close to another of the smaller travelers—a girl, I guess, from her movements, though I am unable to confirm my suspicions.

I watch them for nearly an hour before they finally regroup and set off in just the direction I intend to go, so I trail behind them by several paces, keeping my gait leisurely and unthreatening, though still silent. As soon as we hit foliage, I slip into the bushes and behind trees, tracking them more with my ears than my eyes.

The sun slips down the sky as we walk. Sometimes, when I stray closer, I can hear laughter and conversations. Listening to them makes me sad and envious, emotions I loathe, so I tend to keep more distance. Luckily for me, their steps are loud enough for me to follow. I fall into a mindless trance.

Suddenly, silence hits me. The rustling sounds of nature are all around, but the sounds of people are gone. When had they stopped? How did I let myself become so distracted?

I veer towards the dirt road, where the trees are less dense. The sun is setting and the skies are orange and the breeze grows chilly; a prickle trips down my spine and I spin around, yanking my shuanggou from my hip as I move.

"Found you."

My eyes widen. I have barely a second to process the sight of the tall, dark-haired man before his glaive swings down too fast for my eyes to see, but my shuanggou are already up and crossed, clanging loudly at the harsh hit.

 _Heavy_ , I think, gritting my teeth and bearing down into the balls of my feet. _He is too strong for me. If even one more of them has this strength..._

I glance at the other hooded figures that have appeared behind my attacker. The three other tall ones give off strange, powerful auras, and I foresee my defeat.

 _I must escape._

He pulls back and swings, his blade whistling sharply over my head as I duck, but unexpectedly he swings back around, too fast for me to evade properly. Cursing my slow reflexes, I drop down, one knee to the ground, just barely quick enough to avoid losing my head, but not my hat.

He slices through my hat and releases my hair from its prison. It tumbles down in a long tangle, distorting my vision; I curse myself to hell for allowing my rare vanity to overpower my common sense in the past months. I'm ashamed of myself.

A collective gasp. "A girl!" one of them exclaims.

 _I am a woman, thank you very much_ , I think sarcastically.

Clutching my shuanggou tight enough to whiten my knuckles, I take advantage of their momentary surprise to leap backwards, landing on my hands and then flipping over to my feet, creating some much needed distance. Unfortunately, my loose hair feels awkward and throws off my balance, forcing me to my knees.

The girl— _I was right_ , I think distantly—reaches out an arm and cries, "Wait—"

The others hold her back.

I'm quick to slip away before they decide whether or not to pursue me.

* * *

 **notes:** hello hello! my first fic for this fandom, woo so exciting! yes, it's an oc fic. moreover, it's (probably gonna be) a hak/oc fic. fair warning, so leave now if this isn't your cup of tea!

strangely, i don't particularly like yona. i appreciate her impressive character development but...idk. she's just not my favorite, and i feel like hak deserves—more. in any case, i really enjoy creating ocs (i put a loooooot of effort into this one) and i love me some hak, and this idea just would _not_ leave my head, so here it is!

the storyline will mostly follow the manga from water tribe/nadai shenanigans onward; i've just inserted my oc into canon lol. please give her a chance! also, i've kinda added a lot of chinese elements to xing and the xingese (idk if this is at all how canon will be but bear with it for this story).

i'll write when i can, but no promises on update speed, sorry! i'm in school and approaching finals, so i'm quite busy.

 **disclaimer: i do not own akatsuki no yona or anything else you may recognize.**

* * *

© Copyright 2017 by The Siege


	2. rainy days

**/ rainy days /**

* * *

Following up on some information I overheard a couple towns ago, I journey through Kouka to Shisen, in the land of the Water Tribe. My sense of direction is finicky at best, so I am forced to make a few detours through villages, as usual, to ask directions.

My new straw hat is stiff on my head, too unworn to be yielding. After briefly mourning my old hat, I bought this replacement as soon as possible to once again hide my hair, to which I am far too attached since I have managed to convince myself not to cut it all off. In any event, it is unlikely I should run into that group of travelers again. Kouka is vast, and surely two weeks of traveling in the opposite direction has put enough space between us.

I have visited the Water Tribe only once out of curiosity, when I first started my journey. The people of Kouka insist that it is the most beautiful territory of Kouka but I only recall lots of rain, which I dislike, so I left swiftly.

When I arrive in Shisen, I am disheartened to realize that the heavens are again pouring down in torrents of chilly water. Hunching inwards, I scurry through the idle streets in search of shelter. I catch quick glimpses of people through open windows; they seem nice enough, but something about this town is unsettling, and a shiver that is wholly unrelated to the cold wracks my body.

Indeed, there is something strange happening here. I was right to come, though now that I am here, I only want to leave and remain ignorant.

Shaking my head to free myself of troubling thoughts, I push onward through the rain. I am so intent on finding an inn that I almost trip over the body lying in the street.

"Ah!"

Regaining my balance, I tilt my hat up and squint: there is a man with a long, green ponytail passed out in front of me. Glancing around, I realize that I have stumbled upon the red light district. This man must have drank too much and fallen unconscious before he could reach home.

I almost want to leave him here as punishment for not knowing his own limits, but the enthusiasm of the falling rain will be hell on his immune system. Sighing, I bend over him and loop a dripping arm around my neck, making me grimace as I struggle to lift him. He is completely limp and his clothes are heavy with rainwater, dragging me down.

"Honestly," I huff to myself, staggering a few steps forward. I will be satisfied if I can just leave him under a roof somewhere.

"Jae-Ha! Jae-Ha, where are you?"

Four hooded figures are sprinting down the street urgently. With a groan, I try to pull the man with me to the side of the road so we do not block them, but they catch sight of us and immediately run towards us. Surprised, I freeze and allow them to converge on me.

My eyes widen in recognition and I choke down my gasp.

The tall, dark-haired killer of my previous hat—bless its soul—frowns deeply at me. "You again? Did you follow us all the way here?"

Glaring at him, I scoff. "Please, you think too highly of yourselves. Is this man one of yours?"

I glance at the unconscious man dangling from my shoulders, being fussed over by a tall, beautiful man with white hair and a girl with bright red hair. The other one, a petite blond boy with old man eyes, smiles kindly at me.

He ignores me and gestures at the white-haired man. "Kija, take him."

Kija nods back and just as I am prepared to hand off my dead weight, his right hand extends into long, scaly claws and plucks the man from my shoulders as if he is weightless. I gape. He looks at me briefly before running off, the kind boy following behind him.

Clearing my throat, I turn to leave and attempt to process what my eyes have just witnessed, but the dark-haired man's deep voice stops me.

"Wait. You're suspicious. You're coming with us."

Turning back around to face him, I rest a hand on my hip and stare back at him disinterestedly. "You are certainly rude. Is that any way to speak to a kind stranger?"

He snorts, and the girl swats his arm before turning to me with an apologetic look.

"I apologize for Hak." The man grumbles behind her, but she ignores him. "You were helping Jae-Ha, weren't you? Thank you so much. We're in a bit of a hurry, but if you're looking for a place to stay, please follow us!"

I am reluctant to agree, but the reality is that I am wet and cold and tired and I have such a poor sense of directions, so I slowly nod. "Alright. I would be very grateful."

She smiles and starts jogging, so I follow her; I feel Hak's beady eyes on me with every step, but I cannot be bothered to argue with him again.

In minutes, we stop outside of a tall building. With a parting smile, Yona rushes inside, Hak close on her heels.

Shaking myself of excess water, I greet the owner and pay for a night.

* * *

 **notes:** a bit of a boring chapter, i'm afraid. but things should pick up soon! the manga is quite fast-paced after all. :D

* * *

© Copyright 2017 by The Siege


End file.
